Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various amoeboid protozoans having a hard external covering, found in soil and freshwater habitats.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having a test or shell; belonging to any group of animals called Testacea.
  • noun A member of the Testacea, in any sense.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Onr of the Testacea.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun zoology One of the Testacea.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various rhizopods of the order Testacea characterized by having a shell

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Testācea, former order name, from Latin, neuter pl. of testāceus, covered with a shell, from testa, shell.]

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Examples

  • The testacean is almost the only genus that throughout all its species is non-copulative.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • Even in the case of the testacean we speak of spawning (or pregnancy); but whereas the crustaceans may be seen coupling and laying their spawn, this is never the case with testaceans.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • Molluscs, after pairing and copulation, lay a white spawn; and this spawn, as in the case of the testacean, gets granular in time.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • But, we would beg to remind all such astute reasoners, of what they seem to be ignorant, namely, that sometimes diamonds are picked up from the dirtiest dung-hills, while the most beautiful of pearls are taken often from the bodies of the ugliest of testacean bivalves.

    Social relations in our Southern States, 1860

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